A printer minidriver is an executable file that provides device-driver support for a particular type or class of printer. It contains data that describes the capabilities, commands, and resident fonts of the printer. A printer minidriver also includes a set of required entry points that the Microsoft Windows® graphic device interface GDI calls to retrieve information about the printer and to send information to the printer.
Although it contains the required entry points, a minidriver does not actually carry out the actions requested by GDI. Instead, the minidriver calls the Universal Printer Driver (Unidriver), providing the information that the Unidriver needs to carry out the requested actions on the device (such as printing text, rendering bitmaps, or advancing a page).
The Unidriver greatly simplifies the task of developing a Windows printer driver. Instead of developing code to support all of the functions that GDI requires, a driver developer need only create a minidriver that provides the information about the printer. By using the Unidriver, a driver developer who understands the hardware and command set for a printer can develop a driver with comparatively little effort.
Note
The Windows 95 Unidriver does not support color Desk jet printers, plotters, Adobe PostScript® printers, and printers that use printer-control languages which are similar to PostScript. For these devices, a vendor may use the Microsoft-provided drivers (see About Windows 95 Printer Drivers for a list of the names of these drivers). You may need to create a Windows printer driver that fully implements all of the functions required by GDI for these three types of printers, see About Windows 95 Printer Drivers for more information.